June 21, 2005--Having recently returned from his
fifth visit to Iraq, Sen. Joe Biden, ranking member of the Foreign
Relations Committee, delivered a speech on "A New Compact for Iraq" at
the Brookings Institution. While Biden took the Bush
administration to task for its rosy rhetoric on Iraq, he also offered a
series of constructive suggestions on how to improve the situation
there.

Biden stated, "I want to see the President of the United States succeed
in Iraq. It is necessary for the President to succeed in
Iraq. His success is America's success."

In recent months Americans' support for the Iraqi mission has declined
as there have been near daily reports of insurgent bombings in
Iraq. Some members of Congress have called for a timetable for
the withdrawal of U.S. forces, a notion Biden rejected.

Biden said, "The disconnect between the administration's rhetoric and
the reality there on the
ground has opened not just a credibility gap but a credibility
chasm. Standing right in the middle of that chasm are 139,000
American troops, some of them, some of them on their third tour."
Biden said the "first order of business is to regain the
confidence of the American people."

Next, Biden said, "We...need to make real policy changes on the ground
in four key
areas: security, governance and politics, reconstruction and
burden-sharing." Biden offered numerous proposals. For
example in the area of reconstruction, he called for small projects to
quickly improve Iraqis' quality of life. "Instead of
building a tertiary sewer treatment plant, we should be running PVC
pipe out of the back of homes into the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
rather than have two feet of raw sewage on the front doorstep of every
Iraqi when they step out of their house." [full
transcript on Brookings Institution site].

RNC press secretary Tracey Schmitt issued a statement criticizing
Biden's "gloomy view of the significant progress made in Iraq."
"Freedom is on the march in Iraq and Biden's flawed rhetoric is nothing
more than political pandering in an effort to grab headlines," stated
Schmitt.